


Lose the Battle, Win the War

by mandathegreat



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon Crossover, USUK - Freeform, sassy gardevoir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1711199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandathegreat/pseuds/mandathegreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“HEY—LET’S BATTLE!” The blonde boy came out of seemingly nowhere, bursting with enthusiasm from head to toe.</p>
<p>“No,” said Arthur, because he didn’t feel like making another eager trainer cry in defeat. </p>
<p>Hetalia/Pokémon Crossover. usuk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lose the Battle, Win the War

**Author's Note:**

> You should probably know what a Gardevoir is if you read this fic. http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Gardevoir_(Pok%C3%A9mon)
> 
> TL;DR: Gardevoir is a humanoid fairy/psychic Pokémon that is said to be able to read its trainer's mind. It was most likely based of of ballet dancers and shakespearian actors, so even the male Gardevoirs appear to be wearing dresses.

Arthur’s mum worked in the Royal Gardens of Clocktower City all of her life. As a little boy, Arthur would run through all the flowers until a little bud of a grass Pokémon or a tiny little fairy type would pop out, and he would tell it, in his wondrous six-year-old voice, “One day, I’ll catch you, and we’ll go on an adventure.”  


That was a long, long time ago, and in his twenty-one years, Arthur had gone on many an adventure with the Pokémon he caught in the gardens, and had worked his way up to becoming the Clocktower City Gym Leader. He considered the job to be an honor, and reveled in the daily challenges of eager boys and girls continuing their first adventure as he had done in the past.

Arthur loved being a gym leader, but he sometimes missed the times he spent exploring the world of Pokémon with nothing but his Pokédex and his loyal companions. Which is why, when he received his invitation to his second World Gym Leaders’ Conference, he left his beloved gym in the care of a friend, and set off to Kalos, the location of the conference.

 It was a long way to the conference, and Arthur was at peace for the start of his journey, accompanied by the calm of the nature he loved so much, and his most faithful and trusted Pokémon, his Gardevoir. Arthur’s Gardevoir had been with him since he was a little Ralts, dancing in the flowers. Just the thought of it had made him nostalgic, and he smiled as he remembered the tiny dancer going into his Pokéball once, and refusing to ever go back inside. As Arthur grew along his journey, so did his Ralts, first into the tutu wearing Kirlia, and then a graceful Gardevoir. The psychic fairy type walked beside him everywhere he went, and grew to be so powerful, that he could read Arthur’s mind.

So it was with his faithful friend by his side that Arthur came across a clearing in the woods where they could stop for some lunch and a little rest. Arthur set up a blanket to sit on while his Gardevoir used Psychic to lift a plate full of scones for Arthur, and some store bought Poképuffs for himself, since the Pokémon refused to eat anything that Arthur made.

As Arthur tucked in to eat, he smiled as his Gardevoir danced around the meadow, singing his “Garde-garde-voir,” and was happy to be relaxing, when he heard a shout from across the meadow:

“HEY—LET’S BATTLE!” The blonde boy came out of seemingly nowhere, bursting with enthusiasm from head to toe. If Arthur had to guess, he would say that the boy was around nineteen or twenty, just a little younger than Arthur himself.

“No,” said Arthur, because he didn’t feel like making another eager trainer cry in defeat. And he was obviously in the middle of something—what rudeness, or idiocy, Arthur thought, did it take to interrupt a nice lunch break like that?

The blonde boy walked up closer to Arthur’s picnic blanket and knelt down next to him. He smiled, grabbed a Poképuff, and threw it to his Gardevoir, who let it fall to the ground and glared at the boy annoying his trainer.

“Well, okay. C’mon, dude, let’s battle, please?”

Arthur sighed. “I don’t want to battle anyone today. Besides, I am the Clocktower City Gym Leader, so you’re more than likely to lose a battle with me.” He could see his Gardevoir puff up with pride for him.

The other blonde smirked. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Only way to find out is to battle me.”

“No.”

“Unless, of course,” he had a smug grin now, “You’re a _chicken_.”

Arthur scoffed. Immature boy. “You’re a git, you know that?”

The other boy blinked his very blue eyes. “People in Imperia keep calling me that, but I have no idea what it means. We definitely don’t say that in Unova.”

“Git means idiot, git.”

“Oh. Hey! Idiot or not, I bet I’m still a better trainer than you!”

Arthur nearly growled. His Gardevoir did growl. “Fine, if you want a battle, you’ve got one!”

As the other trainer stood up and whooped in premature victory, Arthur took a minute to size him up. The boy was tall and full of energy. He would probably have a very aggressive style of attack, to match his aggressive personality. Arthur couldn’t ignore his boyish good looks, and he wondered if the boy was aggressive in any other aspects of his life. He then blushed and mentally kicked himself, and, really, he should have expected the smack of a dainty dancer’s hand on his forearm he received from his Gardevoir.

“Don’t judge me,” he whispered.

He faced his opponent. “Let’s go three on three, I have better things to do than beat you today.”

“That’s fine with me. Do I get the pleasure of knowing my opponent’s name?”

“It’s Arthur.”

The boy winked. “Alfred. Nice to meet’cha.”

“Okay, let’s not dawdle. Sylveon, let’s go.”

Arthur’s Sylveon emerged out of her Pokéball, cute as a button and terrifyingly dangerous to boot.

“Luxray, let’s get ‘em!” Alfred’s first Pokémon was a big hulking creature on all fours—electric type, Arthur knew from the voltage he could see coming out of the Pokémon’s mane.

Alfred laughed, “Another fairy type, Arthur? Do you brush the ribbons in her hair? Man, Sylveons give me the heebie-jeebies—they’re like creepy doll—" 

Without Arthur’s command, Sylveon called down a Moonblast and sent the big Luxray into the air. When he hit the ground, he was out.

“Sylveons are very vain creatures, Alfred. They don’t take well to mockery.” His Sylveon was barring her teeth. “Next Pokémon, please.”

 “Fine.” Alfred’s glasses glinted in the sunlight. “Talonflame, get ready.”

_Oh no._ Arthur was less concerned with the giant firebird aspect of Talonflame than he probably should have been. It was the steel underbelly and claws he was worried about. Fairy types were very week to steel types.

“Talonflame, Steel Wing!” He cringed as he saw his poor Sylveon fall to the ground.

“Hahaha! Next Pokémon, _please._ ”

Arthur saw his Gardevoir get ready for action, but he held him back. “You’re a fairy type, I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.” The Pokémon stayed back.

“Let’s go, Roserade.” 

“Grass type against fire? Interesting. Fire blast, Talonflame!” 

“Dodge it! Now use Venoshock.” The blast of sweet-smelling poison knocked the bird onto the ground. He was out of commission.

“Aww man. Fine. Braviary, you know what to do.” Alfred’s Braviary was a big, angry looking bird, bigger than the Talonflame by a good foot. “Use Brave Bird!”

The only thing Arthur could do was watch as the bird sped up to an unreal speed to knock his Roserade right out.

“Okay Arthur, this is it, one Pokémon left for each of us!”

He thought hard. Braviary was a normal and flying type, so his Gardevoir wasn’t week to it.

“Okay, Gardevoir. Let’s finish this.” His Gardevoir leapt into action. “Psychic!”

The bird took the hit, but stayed flying, and at Alfred’s call hit his Gardevoir with Fly.

They kept at it for a while, each Pokémon taking and dodging hit after hit. Arthur could tell that both Pokémon were getting tired.

Alfred smiled. “I think we’re done here, Arthur.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, they’re both so tired. And there’s no way your Gardevoir could stay up after a Steel Wing.”

“Wha—?”

The Braviary unleashed his final move on Gardevoir. He knew a steel move. Damn.

Arthur watched as Gardevoir hit the ground. The battle was over. He lost. He ran to Gardevoir’s side and gave him a full revive, and helped the Pokémon back to his feet.

“She’s not hurt, is she?” Alfred looked concerned, and rushed over to help. Just from that gesture of kindness, Arthur could tell that he would like Alfred, at least as a friend.

“He.”

“Huh?”

“My Gardevoir is a boy.”

“But he’s wearing a dress.”

“Still a boy.” The Gardevoir snarled at Alfred.

“I’m sorry, Gardevoir. I like your dress.” The Pokémon made a sound that Arthur interpreted as forgiving.

Arthur extended a hand to Alfred. “Congratulations, Alfred. You beat the Clocktower City Gym Leader. I’m afraid I don’t have any badges with me, though.” 

The taller boy smiled, and accepted his hand. “Oh that’s alright. One day, I might get my Imperia badges, but I’m sort of tied down at my job.”

“And what job is that, Alfred?”

“Oh nothing important. I’m just the Liberty City Gym Leader.” He smiled wide.

Arthur blinked a couple of times. That meant…

“Are you going to the conference?”

Arthur shoved at him. “You’re a git, you know that? Making me think I got my arse handed to me by some kid. Brat.” He started to walk off, and he wondered why he felt so betrayed by one battle.

Alfred was hot on his heels. “Hey, c’mon! Why are you so mad? It was just one little battle!” He grabbed Arthur’s arm and spun him around so they were face to face, his back to a tree trunk. Arthur felt himself blush with what was definitely rage and couldn’t be anything else ever. He saw his Gardevoir ready to attack Alfred for grabbing his arm like that, so he started talking:

“I said from the start that I was the Clocktower City Gym Leader. If you knew anything about Gyms, and you obviously do, then you know that most of my Pokémon are Grass and Fairy types. You challenged me with fire and steel. If I knew that you were the Liberty City Gym Leader, then I would have known better from the start and told you what you already knew: This was an unfair fight. Now, piss off.” He shoved himself out of Alfred’s grip and continued walking away.

“I-I’m sorry, okay?” The tone of Alfred’s voice made Arthur turn around and look at him. “I just, man—I wanted to _talk_ to you. I thought that maybe if I beat you, you’d be, like, impressed or something and take me more seriously. We met last year at the conference, and I could barely get a word out of you. But I saw you battle there and—I just liked you. I still do. When I saw you in the woods I just knew I had to battle you, so I could get you to like me, too. Anyway, I think I messed that up, too.”

He looked sheepish. “For what it’s worth, I really am sorry, Arthur.”

Arthur didn’t like the look of sadness on Alfred’s face at all. Not one bit. It made his heart hurt.

“Look, Alfred. That was kind of a rotten thing to do. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I get it. You could have just…introduced yourself and asked me if we could go to the conference together? I might have said yes, you know.”

“Can we just start over?"

“No battles?”

“No battles. Promise.” Alfred had a tentative smile on his face.

“Well then, hello, fellow Gym Leader Alfred.”

“Hello Gym Leader Arthur. Shall we go to the conference?” Alfred’s smile was beaming, and Arthur pinpointed the exact second when his heart melted. His Gardevoir was judging him for giving in so easily. He didn’t care in the slightest.

“The journey will be quicker if we go together.

And so they continued off into the forest, heading toward the conference with every step.

And if, somewhere along the way, they detoured a little bit to kiss against a tree or on Arthur’s picnic blanket, well, that was no one’s problem but their own.

Arthur’s poor Gardevoir just danced and ate Poképuffs, silently lamenting the fact that he was powerful enough to read minds.

 

 


End file.
